This invention relates to a method for manufacturing passports, in which passports each containing personal data are continuously manufactured on a book-making line.
Passports are official documents issued by the countries of to those nationals who are visiting countries abroad, for the purposes of certifying the nationality, personal status, etc. of those nationals and asking authorities of the visiting countries to render conveniences and protection, etc. to those nationals.
Heretofore, it was customary that many booklets of virgin passports containing no personal data, etc. are prepared and stocked beforehand, so that when an application for a passport is made, personal data of that applicant can be recorded on the booklet type virgin passport for immediate issuance.
Specifically, a booklet type virgin passport is manufactured in one place, namely, factory a, and personal data are recorded on the virgin passport in another place, namely, a branch office of the country.
More specifically, the conventional passport is made by combining, as shown in FIGS. 14A and 14B, a data sheet 1 for recording personal data therein, a protective film 5 laminated on the data sheet, and visa sheets 2 for official sealing. Then, the sheet 1, the film 5 and the visa sheets 2 are stitched together with a thread using a sewing machine along the central binding line. Then, a cover sheet 3 is bonded to an outer surface of the personal data sheet 1 by an adhesive agent and the protective film 5 is laminated on an inner surface of the data sheet 1, so that the personal data recorded on the data sheet is fully protected. Reference numeral 4 denotes a stitching thread.
As shown in FIG. 14C, the personal data sheet 1 includes a zone V for recording visually readable personal data thereon, and a zone M for recording machine readable personal data thereon.
Specifically, the personal data sheet 1 is bisected into two pages along the central binding line Y and one of the two pages is used as a data recording page. A comparatively large region of the data recording page along the central binding line Y serves as the zone V for recording the visually readable personal data, and a comparatively small region of the data recording page along a front edge serves as the zone M for recording the mechanically readable personal data.
The mechanically readable personal data are data to be optically read by inserting a front edge of the cover sheet 3 attached with the data sheet 1 into the interior of a reading slot of a reaching machine.
As previously mentioned, heretofore, a booklet type virgin passport having the data sheet 1, the visa sheets 2 and the cover sheet 3 stitched together by the stitching thread 4, the cover sheet 3 being bonded to the outer surface of the data sheet 1 through an adhesive agent, was manufactured in a bookmaking factory. Then, as shown in FIGS. 14A, and 14B, a branch office of the country having an authority to issue passports recorded the visually readable personal data on the recording zone V of the data sheet 1 of the booklet type virgin passport using a printing machine 6, recorded the mechanically readable personal data on the recording zone M using a printing machine 7, then placed the protective film 5 on the surface of the data sheet 1 for lamination by means of a hot plate or high frequency bonding means. A fully recorded passport as a final product was then handed to the applicant.
However, this conventional system for issuing a passport is pointed out as being not very efficient and as taking a long time from the date of application to the date of issuance of a passport. Moreover, the stocked booklet type virgin passports are sometimes used for counterfeit.
Moreover, in the conventional method for recording the visually readable personal data on the recording zone V by opening a bookmaking completed virgin passport, a large area of the recording zone V is difficult to obtain and therefore, the area of the mechanically readable personal data recording zone M is reduced.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14A, in the bookmaking completed virgin passport, the sheets are stitched together with the stitching thread 4. For this reason, it is difficult to record data onto the throat region S along the central binding line Y formed by the stitching line 4. As a consequence, the area of the recording zone V is reduced and therefore, the area of the recording zone M is also reduced. Moreover, it is difficult to record the visually readable personal data in an area very close to the central binding line Y. This offers a possibility to counterfeit the passport.
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above situation.